Sheep May Safely Graze
by Belen09
Summary: Malcolm Reed goes exploring, as does Dr. Prilicla of Sector General, and mayhem ensues.
1. Chapter 1

_I have been a fan of Star Trek in all its permutations for forty-five years plus – I discovered James White's Sector General Books about forty years ago. Both helped to form my outlook on life. This story is homage to both universes, and is written for my enjoyment only and hopefully yours too._

_This story contains both heterosexual and homosexual pairings – if this is a problem, I'm sorry . . . The inspiration for this story comes from James White's Mind Changer, where Joan asked O'Mara why he is not interested in her – if perhaps she is the wrong gender? His response was that she was the wrong species. (She thought he was joking and O'Mara went along with it. He wasn't.')_

_**What if she was both the wrong species and the wrong gender?**_

_For the purposes of this story – Commander Trip Tucker and Lieutenant Malcolm Reed are an established couple in the alternate Star Trek Enterprise universe. For Stan. . ._

**Enterprise**

The alien spaceship was breathtakingly beautiful – sleek and almost virginal in its brilliant white appearance. Chief Engineer Trip Tucker decided that the designers of the craft must have had an innate sense of style, at least to his human eyes. Why else would they build something so amazingly 'sexy', when something more utilitarian would suffice? The other question he had in regard to the vision before his eyes also occupied his mind – What happened to the rest of the vessel? It looked to have been chopped off . . . And he looked toward the other occupants of the bridge . . .

Lieutenant Malcolm Reed, Armory/Tactical Chief of the Enterprise had a different agenda. Could this seemingly abandoned craft be a threat to their ship, and what had happened to the rest of it? Why was there only a piece of the craft? He examined the ship for any weapon capabilities, and found none evident. He addressed the captain, as surely he would want to know his opinion. "Sir, this part of the vessel doesn't seem to have any weapons, either offensive or defensive capabilities; it does appear to be abandoned." And he looked toward Commander Tucker knowing full well that the man was intrigued by the find.

Jonathan Archer, captain of the Enterprise, smiled because he did like pleasing his senior officers. "How would you gentlemen like to go and explore the ship? At the very least we can get some information about the aliens that built her." He too, was smitten by the graceful shape and form of the vessel; curious about whom it belonged to. Hopefully there weren't casualties from the event that caused the splitting of the spacecraft – an event which Commander T'Pol had indicated had happened some time ago, if the lack of fragmented debris or atmospheric vapor was any indication. It had no obvious power signature and seemed to be totally 'dead in the water.'

The two men expressed their pleasure in different ways – Malcolm Reed with a slight nod, and Trip Tucker – "Thank you, Capt'n; I'd really like to go check her out!" This comment by the chief engineer caused the lieutenant to smile at his partner, his love. He knew that Trip would want to see the ship. And he thought of the previous night's exploring activities, albeit in a smaller area, Tucker's quarters.

(Short first chapter – comments welcome – thank you!)


	2. Chapter 2

_**Important – If you are offended by sexual situations please don't read – skip to next chapter – this time I will post two chapters at one time . . . basically I am establishing that Commander Tucker and Lieutenant Reed are a committed, loving couple – perhaps a bit different, but difference is the 'spice of life' . . .**_

_**I did 'tone this down' from previous posting on another site per this site's restrictions – and the title which is from a work by J. S. Bach refers to friendly relations in both universes – although 'friendly' doesn't mean 'not fraught with angst' . . .**_

**Enterprise – Commander Tucker's quarters**

Malcolm had picked up the food from the Mess Hall, something that he knew Trip would enjoy eating – boneless pork ribs with gravy and rice, 'mexi-corn', and fresh-made rolls was the menu for diner, with vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup on pound cake for desert. And when his love was sated from all this good food, the 'tactical man' would slowly, oh so slowly, entice his prey into his 'web', into deeper and deeper passion . . .

He rang the doorbell to Trip's cabin, and was greeted by the engineer, who immediately smelled the food, and said, "What do you have there? Smells good!" Malcolm walked past Trip giving him a kiss as he passed, setting the meal down on the desk where he divided up the food, knowing how the two of them preferred the individual dishes.

He divided up the pork equally and left the 'corn' for Trip to take as much as he wanted. As much as he liked the taste of the maize with the little peppers, digestion was a problem, so Malcolm usually didn't eat much of it. The lieutenant did like the taste of the pound cake so that he usually had more of it than Trip, who was more interested in the vanilla ice cream and the chocolate syrup.

They made 'small talk' (well, engineering 'small talk') during dinner, and Trip savored the taste of a cup of coffee with his desert. Malcolm made a pretense of getting up to stretch and just happened to position himself so that he could kiss his love's cheek, reaching down to stroke the man's chest through the material of his T-shirt. Tucker inhaled and stated, with a grin, "Somebody's horny!" His mouth was immediately covered by a kiss from the lieutenant. Leaving the last bit of ice cream abandoned, the commander broke the kiss of his randy darlin', "How about we get ready for bed?"

This was of course Malcolm's ultimate plan because now he could 'observe' Trip's disrobing, an action that he knew his love found exciting – the act of being 'watched' . . . (they had tried the reverse several times – not as successful as the dark-haired man would flush red with embarrassment while the more excitable Southerner could hardly keep his hands off his 'project' . . .)

Trip began to strip slowly allowing Malcolm full view of him stretching, pulling, and crossing his arms while removing his outer clothes. Stood in his underwear facing Malcolm, leaving his darlin' to imagine what was 'hidden' beneath the cloth. Suddenly his underwear was discarded, and the 'show' began . . .

He would stroke himself, seemingly without obvious pattern, and 'watch' his 'watcher' – until he knew Malcolm was ready, so ready for the next part that nothing would deter him in his quest. (It often happened during the course of his assigned duty as an officer, that Malcolm Reed would 'multitask' – literally have a number of things on his mind – this sexual activity was a tremendous release for the man, to have your entire mind focused on that one point of existence. There is a freedom, a glorious freedom in knowing that all your world is reduced to that one possibility, and that you will respond with all your being . . .)

Actions were thus engendered – but then one time Trip had made the mistake of asking his lover what he thought about while thus 'engaged' – the man replied automatically, "I am occupied . . ." Trip's response, "Jeez, you sound so cold – are you thinking about blowing things up? Firing torpedoes? You seem so cold-blooded . . ."

Trip had barely got the words out before Malcolm, clearly upset, said, "Don't ever say that! I feel like everyone else does!" It was terribly hurtful, and all of Trip's renowned glibness was needed to get past that potential 'relationship-ending' gaffe. (He could not know that Malcolm's own mother had described him as 'cold-blooded' even at age seven, because he thought about the consequences of his actions, and didn't immediately react like she expected.)

It must be said that while Trip could be more passionate in some ways, Malcolm was more persistent and rarely took, "I'm too tired" at face value – a situation that the Southerner found 'instructive' as he didn't realize that some parts of his body were so sensitive . . . There was very little that his darlin' wouldn't do in order to excite his lover . . .

At any rate the activity that Reed and Tucker engaged in the evening before the mission to the derelict vessel was theirs alone to share, not something to be broadcast all over the Enterprise . . .


	3. Chapter 3

**Sector General, The Rhabwar**

The Cinrusskin woke from sleep, comfortable in its nest of pillows and comforters. The ship was due to come out of hyper-drive in two hours and he wanted to make sure that everything was in order to assist the vessel that sent the emergency signal. He'd had a fleeting dream just before he woke up, which Dr. Prilicla tried to remember as sometimes they seemed to be precognitive in nature . . .

He was in a temperate rain forest, looking closely at the green plants that covered every inch of surface; Deep vibrant green, life in joyful exuberance – it seemed to be from the viewpoint of an Earth-human, although the Educator tape from that species that Prilicla 'carried' was not familiar with the experience. Actually not everything was green, he realized. There were some delicate, spotted flowers that were quite beautiful, and the Cinrusskin noticed too the presence of a myriad of Iridescent winged dragonflies attracted to the blossoms. "Little brothers," he spoke with a smile, sharing their pleasure.

Suddenly a motion down the path caught his eye. An Earth-Human dressed in the brightest, most garish color shirt one could hate to imagine was heading his way, calling out "Malcolm? You up here?"

'Malcolm?' The name was not familiar yet the blond human seemed to be looking directly at him. Prilicla felt a disquieting feeling, and remembered shivering . . .

The Cinrusskin had then woken up, stretching and refolding his wings and legs. 'Well,' he thought, 'That was interesting!' He then noticed a message on his personal monitor . . .

The screen lit up and a familiar uniformed human appeared on the screen. "Hello, doctor. Did you get a good nap?" Captain Fletcher had a pleasant smile on his face. "We got a message from the Thromgar, the vessel that sent the emergency signal. In short, they found an abandoned craft. They're not in trouble, thank God! However, they don't have a way to check out the ship properly, and they requested our aid. Takes a load off my mind at least." Fletcher wasn't one to hide either his thoughts or feelings, a direct being.

"Yes, friend Fletcher, that is good news. But we could say that this is a very good exercise, a good 'drill' – don't you think?" The Cinrusskin paused, and then continued, "I hope we can return shortly to Sector General . . ." He was thinking of some urgent matters that he had left back at the hospital, in order to respond on this mission. Fletcher smiled and broke the connection.

Prilicla turned from the screen, wondering how long they would be at this incident. His mind ran back to a particular patient, he was currently treating at Sector General, and he hoped it wouldn't be long . . . Launching from his sleeping nest, he flew over to the casualty deck, spotted Dr. Murchison taking a physical count of medical supplies. "Friend Murchison, have you talked to Captain Fletcher?" He made a graceful landing on the cabinet next to a bulkhead.

His good friend for many years smiled. "Yes, I spoke with the captain. We'll be ready to take casualties when we drop out of hyper-drive. Hey, did you hear about the neo-natal case that Thornnaster is working on?" They continued talking 'shop', until the bell rang indicating return to normal space.

Captain Fletcher then reappeared on a view screen. "Doctors, we've arrived at our destination." He looked at another screen. "My! That's a beautiful ship! We'll be on close approach in about fifteen minutes." The two doctors looked at the ship, it was apparent that its designers were skilled even to their non-engineer eyes.

_**Odd thing – I was struck by the coincidence of a 'Captain Archer' in Star Trek Enterprise and a 'Captain Fletcher' in the Sector General stories. Fletchers make arrows, and Archers shoot them . . . did someone 'lift' some ideas? Hmmm!**_


End file.
